Question about nicotine w/Dr. Kemmeter

 I quit smoking the day I found out I was pregnant with my son, 28 years ago, and didn't have a really tough time with it, so I can not empathize  too much with what you're going through.      My husband chews the nicotine gum, and occasionally uses one of the e-cigs (he won't use them around me because I laugh at them - I know, I'm mean that way) as he's had a great deal of difficulty breaking away from nicotine.    He's been addicted to the gum for ten years years!    If they work as a step-down for you, and GHP says it's okay, go for it.   I wish he would quit the gum altogether, because as Steve says, nicotine is not a harmless substance.    I know someone who was a long-term smoker who had lots and LOTS of surgical and post-op problems, and has had many subsequent surgeries that she has not recovered well from.   Quitting altogether, FOR GOOD, would  be fantastic.  You CAN do this!

Thanks Julie.  I quit when I was pregnant too, and it wasn't too difficult for me either. Probably because it made me sick, and I replaced smoking with eating 24/7 (which led to a HUGE weight gain).  But I was stupid and started up not long after I had him.

I hope they will let me step down the nicotine too. I'm going to call monday and find someone that will give me a straight answer.

I actually lost weight when I did the self-hypnosis. One of the things it reprograms you to do is to drink more water and eat healthier foods in order to combat the few extra pounds people typically put on when they try to quit (which I think has something to do w/the oral habit of smoking.) Also, in all fairness, I only smoked for about three or four years so I wasn't struggling against years of nicotine addiction, though addiction is addiction whether it's two years or 20. 

I quit smoking for two reasons: when I started smoking I was living in Kentucky with my girlfriend at the time who was a smoker. A pack of cigs there was like $1.50 a pack. When she and I split up and I moved back to Michigan cigs were like $4-$5 a pack. I decided that I couldn't afford to smoke anymore. And second, I knew that the guy I was interested in dating would not date a smoker, so that factored into my desire to stop smoking also.

It's funny, now that I'm a non-smoker I would never consider dating someone who smokes. A friend of mine who has never smoked said that she notices that former smokers are much more biased against smokers than people who have never smoked are. I just don't want to be around it at all. My mom is a smoker, and while I feel bad about it, I don't like hugging her because she always reeks of smoke. (She would never try using the self-hypnosis because she doesn't believe in having someone artificially suggest things into her subconscious mind.) This morning, to my delight, she got out the three step patch kit that I bought her months ago and started using it. I also bought the kit for my brother. I'm hoping to have an entirely smoke-free family. My father died of lung-cancer and we certainly don't want a repeat of that. 

 Would you consider giving Chantix one more shot?  I entered into it knowing that it could be a rough ride emotionally (I suffer from lifelong anxiety and depression) but I enlisted my husband as my support.  Quitting smoking ***** with the brain anyway.  I busted through those feelings and sometimes just let them wash over me knowing that it was temporary and would pass.  I continued to smoke using Chantix for over a month but I was able to step away from cigs.  I tapered off Chantix very slowly and was on it for a total of 4 months.  

It's just  thought....
~GG

And you know...as preachy as this might sound...sometimes all it takes is REALLY DECIDING that you are done.  I had "tried" to stop many times...even involving the expensive, early, smoking cessation programs.  Always failed.  Had mycoplasma pneumonia...had oxygen at home upon dischate and spent four months on disability having trouble breathing...and STILL went outside to smoke so I wouldn't blow up the house.  I carried on  smoking for about 38 years--I'm a slow learner--give or take and then my husband had a heart attack.

I drove to the hospital to pick him up after his angioplasty...had my last Marlboro...put the rest of the pack on the bench near the ashtray outside the hospital...and that was that.  Not to say I didn't WANT one...often, at first...not to say that the two of us didn't take potshots at each other on a semi-regular basis at first.  But he stopped three days before I did and it still ****** me off that he's been "clean" longer!

The only hint...my inner arguments involved convincing myself that if I were stranded somewhere without access to cigarettes (like my MIL was in a snowstorm), I'd have no choice but to not smoke.  And most likely, I wouldn't die from the stress.

It's tough...but lesser women than you have done it.